Kate von Moschzisker Disston

 

FALMOUTH - Kate von Moschzisker Disston, 84, of Falmouth Foreside, formerly of Philadelphia, Pa., died Friday at a local nursing home.

She was born at her grandparent's summer home in Bethlehem, N.H., a daughter of Robert and Anne Macbeth von Moschzisker, grew up in Pennsylvania and attended Springside School in Paris, France.

At age 5, she, her sister Bertha, brother Michael and parents survived an anarchist bomb attack that severely damaged her parents' home on Delancey Street in Philadelphia.

In 1938, she married Horace C. Disston, an Olympic medalist and noted Princeton athlete.

They moved to Yarmouth in 1947. Mrs. Disston was active in civic affairs for many years as president of the Yarmouth Health Council and board member of the Unmarried Parents Services and Sweetser Children's Home.

She was a volunteer teacher in the Portland school system for 22 years and also was a Maine Medical Center volunteer for many years.

She divorced in 1958 and moved to Falmouth Foreside.

She was a member of the Portland Country Club and the Portland Yacht Club and a founding member of the Harraseeket Yacht Club.

Surviving are a sister, Bertha von Moschzisker of Moorestown, N.J.; a daughter, Linda D. White of Chebeague Island; a son, Christopher Disston of Silver Spring, Fla.; a stepson, Horace C. Disston of Bryn Mawr, Pa.; and a grandson, Stephen D. White of Bournemouth, England.

The service is private. Arrangements are by Lindquist Funeral Home, Yarmouth.

(A private family service will be held in the summer. Charitable donations may be made to the Chebeague Care Resource, Box 226, Chebeague Island, ME 04017 to assist in their program for the elderly.)

(copied from the Portland Press Herald, January 12, 1998)